chicot60
03-20-2011, 10:20 PM
In giving an update Friday on how it is coping with the crisis in Japan, Nissan added an ominous paragraph that probably gets to what many motorists are thinking even if they won't say it out loud: Could new cars imported from Japan track in radioactivity?
Nissan said it "this week initiated the monitoring of vehicles made in Japan for any traces of radioactive material. Looking ahead, we will continue to implement all appropriate measures to reassure the public that all products from our company remain within globally accepted safety standards and until we are confident that any risk of contamination is completely removed."
At least give Nissan credit for trying to get ahead of the urban myth. We suspect every Japanese automaker will soon be issuing a statement similar to Nissan's, saying they are checking every car for export for radioactivity or talking about how far their plants are from the damaged reactors. And if you think the radioactivity bugaboo spells trouble for the auto industry, consider what Japanese food producers, like those who prepare famed Kobe beef, could face:
So far, no spikes in radiation are being reported in Japan outside the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear power complex. It's doubtful there are any major automotive plants within 50 miles of the power station, the safety zone recommended by U.S. authorities. Yet for for some Americans, no risk is better than even the slightest perfection of risk -- and that could dissaude some from buying an imported Japanese car for fear that it is somehow radioactive.
Even if radiation to worsen or spread in Japan, either by a full meltdown of the power plant or by a shift in winds that so far have carried radioactivity out to sea, it is unlikely that any Japanese products meant for export could become radioactive, the New York Times says. (That's a Toyota worker in the photo above looking over a shipment of Yarises bound for the U.S. last month, presumable not for radioactivity since it was long before the nuclear crisis). The Times quotes Carlos Tavares, chairman of Nissan Americas, as saying about the need for radioactivity scanning: "It's clear that we have found nothing, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. We are just doing it to make sure nothing is there."
Limited auto production is due to start at most plants in Japan on Tuesday. As Japan gets back on its feet, the biggest problem it may face isn't getting its goods to the U.S., but getting Americans to accept them as safe.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/japan-japanese-cars-radioactive/1
Nissan said it "this week initiated the monitoring of vehicles made in Japan for any traces of radioactive material. Looking ahead, we will continue to implement all appropriate measures to reassure the public that all products from our company remain within globally accepted safety standards and until we are confident that any risk of contamination is completely removed."
At least give Nissan credit for trying to get ahead of the urban myth. We suspect every Japanese automaker will soon be issuing a statement similar to Nissan's, saying they are checking every car for export for radioactivity or talking about how far their plants are from the damaged reactors. And if you think the radioactivity bugaboo spells trouble for the auto industry, consider what Japanese food producers, like those who prepare famed Kobe beef, could face:
So far, no spikes in radiation are being reported in Japan outside the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear power complex. It's doubtful there are any major automotive plants within 50 miles of the power station, the safety zone recommended by U.S. authorities. Yet for for some Americans, no risk is better than even the slightest perfection of risk -- and that could dissaude some from buying an imported Japanese car for fear that it is somehow radioactive.
Even if radiation to worsen or spread in Japan, either by a full meltdown of the power plant or by a shift in winds that so far have carried radioactivity out to sea, it is unlikely that any Japanese products meant for export could become radioactive, the New York Times says. (That's a Toyota worker in the photo above looking over a shipment of Yarises bound for the U.S. last month, presumable not for radioactivity since it was long before the nuclear crisis). The Times quotes Carlos Tavares, chairman of Nissan Americas, as saying about the need for radioactivity scanning: "It's clear that we have found nothing, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. We are just doing it to make sure nothing is there."
Limited auto production is due to start at most plants in Japan on Tuesday. As Japan gets back on its feet, the biggest problem it may face isn't getting its goods to the U.S., but getting Americans to accept them as safe.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/japan-japanese-cars-radioactive/1